Breeze (A Harvest Moon Story)
by Lizabelle TALI
Summary: Somewhere, there is happiness... and two girls from the city will find it. When a red envelope arrives from one of the girl's relatives, both brunette and blonde pack their bags and start a fantastic journey full of friendship, misunderstandings, unexpected meetings, love, and self-discovery.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_**Breeze**_

* * *

___THE DRILL: I do not own or claim property to Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, or any of the Harvest Moon characters. All credit is owed to the creator Yasuhiro Wada, to Victor Interactive Software, Marvelous Entertainment, Natsume, and all other proprietary involved with Harvest Moon. Any resemblance to real people, animals, pets, comrades, enemies, and/or aliens is strictly coincidental. Please support the official release.  
(You now know "the drill".)_

If you pass over the town and climb down the mountain pass, the wind will guide you to happiness.

Follow the dirt road and the crisp, cool smell of the ocean. A clearing opens up, and life blossoms all around. Small houses (like cottages) scatter here and there, while clusters and trees and firs mark the way forward.

Stride past a farm and fertile fields of cabbage. Let your eyes glide over the grassy green plateau on your left, where it's decorated with many flora. Ahead of you lies a stream of silver fish glittering in the cold sunlit river.  
Listen closely as you cross the bridge. In a far distance to the right, water drops in buckets from a high place. The water's trip down echoes into bellowing waters below, clashing yet unifying with the start of the river.

Continuing forward over the river bridge, along your right, is a forest, loud with life. Its spirits whisper as you come close, fall silent when you stop to look, and the woods come back to life as you pass, as if to bid you a fare journey.

To your left, along the dirt path as an inn welcoming travelers like yourself, and neighbors alike. The wooden building seems a foreign-looking structure, sculpted under every culture of the world, the tallest one in the land. It is the home of many, and, of none.

Though the path goes on, your feet fall silent. Your eyes and ears are captivated by a sound.

Through the wind in the trees, the rustle of leaves, and the echo of the ocean, a soft voice sings and guitar-like strumming commences. Under a birch tree, a man sits cross-legged, with a green pointy hat atop his spice-red hair, a strange rectangular string instrument in his arms.

He closes his eyes and pauses, waits for a breeze to join his choir, and he sings:

"A bird from the city blew into the Valley

'tween the winds of fate.

She settled her blue feathers and stranded herself out here,

far from Heaven's gate.

With every whistle, the sounds carried hope

and with every step the small bird

colored

the Forget-Me-Not's blue.

Oh what would we do,

if the sky had not brought you?"

The green-capped man blissfully nods in satisfaction. "Oh, what a joyous day!" He and the quiet valley can't hear the distant noise...

the far-off cries...

The honks, beeps, peels on pavement, shouts from streets blanketed with people,

the clack of red heels, the muffled thud of a suitcase swinging against a gray suited man's leg, the loud close of a green car door

and are all colored gray in the mist of the city, and

are all very far from that peaceful valley

As is this young brunette, leaning out of her apartment window to gaze at the city sights.

"What a _joyous_ day," she murmurs, while profanity ensues in the streets below. She sighs and backs away, shutting the glass and hoping to lock the noise away with it.

Behind her is a small, brown-carpeted living area, though she nor her roommate have never once felt they were truly living in a place like this. She glances at the coffee table, the centerpiece of the room. Pale pine with chips and bruises, she always thought that this is what made it look fresh, thought Claire always wanted something a bit newer, a bit more intricate, and just as handy.

Claire was the one who bought the plaid peach-and-brown window curtains and their white china dishware, with a single flower painted on each.

...Who is Claire, you ask?

Well, more importantly, where is Claire?

The girl lifts her long bangs and hanging hair to glance at a circular wall clock. "Her shift at the diner ended at least thirty minutes ago." She sounds calm, but her imagination is started to cause her to here someone tapping the door. She dismisses the thought and paces the room, in hopes that nothing happened to Claire. When she hears another knock, she seriously thinks she's going crazy.

"Come _on_, Jill! Open up, I forgot my key!"

The young woman feels relieved. She's grown used to her roommate/best friend's airheadedness. Jill casually makes her way to the door. Though Claire's been like this long before they rented out the apartment two years ago.

"Oh no," worry comes over Claire in her voice. "Don't tell me she's stepped out too!"

Jill chuckles, her long curled hair ripples in brief waves. The girl through the peek-hole, a blonde with beautiful eyes and hair not quite as long, keeps exchanging stares with the door and the steps, as if waiting for Jill to appear at any moment.

"I'm here, I'm here! Calm down, Claire." After a turn and a click, the door opens and Claire rushes into the room, her large flower-designed bag over her shoulder. She's holding a week's pay in her hand, but she seems a bit aggravated, as usual.

"You wouldn't believe what the boss was telling me before I finally left," she sat on one of two brown couches in the living area, heaving her head back and still carrying the bag. Jill indicates that she's listening, gets a glass of water, and brings it over to Claire.

"So he said—oh, thanks!" She takes a sip, still peculiarly holding her handbag, and Jill sits on the opposite couch. "He told me that he's lonely living along, and he could use a good friend's company this weekend. Everyone knows he has a girlfriend! And she's twenty-two!" Frowning, she glugs the entire glass and thrusts it onto the pine table.

"What a jerk!" Jill sympathizes, inching up on the couch.

Claire replies with a cryptic smile. "Hard to believe a guy like that can get a girlfriend."

"Why don't you make yourself unavailable, then?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"...Well..."

"Would you do that?!"

"Of course not," Jill says honestly. "I'm happy enough just having this awesome girl around for company."

The blonde giggles, pretending to blush. "You're such a sap." She pauses. "Really, we;re too independent for our own goods." Suddenly, her eyes widen and she jumps in surprise, shocking her friend a bit. "I almost forgot!" She lifts her purse and takes a package out of it. "I could complain all day, but this is what I really wanted to talk to you about."

"It's another package!" Jill snatches it out of Claire's hands, and Claire sits next to Jill. Her blue eyes are like the eyes of a mother watching her four-year old opening a present on her birthday. Jill always has a calm, smiling face, but she really loses composure when it comes things like this. She wonders if Jill even realizes it.

"Your Uncle Takakura sure is nice, sending you gifts and letters all the time." Jill says her Uncle Taka's been sending her gifts every couple of months now, instead of every year on her birthday like when she was younger. Claire silently wonders if it's because his "niece" is grown up now.

What are this man's ulterior motives? Is he really her uncle? How did he know her birthday? He said in his first letter that he was a friend of her father's, but Claire has doubted it since then. She doesn't dare say or show these feelings to Jill.

Claire admits to herself that she does enjoy the occasional letter he sends. Not only do his letters make Jill extremely happy, but he describes his home like it's some other-worldly, magical place. For two girls, who have lived in the city for all their lives, he has a genuine way of storytelling.

In words, he draws out a place almost unimaginable for them. He says for every season, the wind whistles in a different way. The plants there carry some kind of magic, "as the folks say". Sometimes, it sounds as if he doesn't believe it himself. But he will tell of legends, of fairies, of sprites, of spirits, and Jill would show Claire the letters the second she got them, even when they were in school together.

The most intriguing thing about his tales is the name he gives to the magical place he calls home: Forget-Me-Not Valley.

What a name for a place nobody knows even exists!

Or, have they all just forgotten? This was a line he once ended a letter with.

The nostalgic packaging of Takakura's gift comes off clean with one tear, and there is a moment of silence. Claire watches it roll to the ground as Jill holds the present in her palms. They both exchange somewhat somber glances. What makes Jill sad is what stirs the most doubt in Claire's heart: there isn't a return address on the packaging.

They turn their attention to the hand-carved wooden receptacle. "It's..." Claire can't quite call it a box; it looks like the bottom-half of an open jewelry box.

"It's beautiful! Hard to believe he can make things like this."

Jill beams back at her, and she holds the box up between them. She turns it, viewing every rounded corner of the wood. It's a slightly darker shade then pine. It's corners are clean, but smoothed, and there are some chips and bulges of imperfection. Centered under the rim of what was supposedly the front, a rounded protrusion of a heart emerges from the wood.

She puts down the box and holds the huge lump of wool that came inside it. He often sends her wool, and it has a certain smell that Jill loves. The feel of it warming her cheek is inexpressibly...nostalgic.

Claire's smile doesn't falter as long as Jill's happy. She looks at the box and lifts it, holding it in her lap. She runs her thumb over an imperfect crevice, and smiles. Is there trustworthy love in this sculpture? She hopes so.

Turning the box over, she notices something odd. A piece of wood covers the bottom, but it looks sloppily applied on closer inspection. She applies little pressure to test the stability of the bottom, and it pops off.

Fear and guilt scorch her insides, and then, surprise. The wooden rectangle flies to the floor, and Jill's eyes open with shock. The wool falls from her hands. She looks at Claire with anger and confusion. Why is she breaking something from her precious Uncle Taka?

"Looks like there's a letter after all." Claire turns the box towards Jill. Inside is a secret compartment, with a slim, red envelope perfectly fitting inside.

Jill's hand raises unconsciously. Claire rolls her eyes. Is she over-dramatizing, or is the glazed look in Jill's eyes real shock? Either way, the blonde takes the letter out at thrusts it out to Jill herself.

The unsealed flap opens in Jill's hands.

Jill turns the crimson container upside-down, and a white scrap of paper falls onto her palm.

"He sent a letter." Saying this, she reads over the few sentences barely fitted on the parchment. She scans it again, and again a third time.

"Shocked again?" Claire worriedly wonders what could be written. She demands to know.

"He..."

"Yeah?"

She smiles. "He says there's a ranch waiting for me in Forget-Me-Not Valley!"

Claire throws her a concerned look. "Are you really getting excited about receiving land from some guy who keeps contacting you, that you've never met?!" Claire covers her mouth quickly. Her guilt, her doubts, are out in the open now. Jill is obviously hurt by this statement, frowning, closing her eyes, the tears crying to get out. Her purple eyes, shining without the light, look straight into Claire's.

"Even if it's a false hope, even if this may all be a mistake..." She lets a tear fall, and she smiles again.

"He says the ranch used to be my father's."

Claire knows she can't say anything to that. The two practically being sisters, she can only imagine how desperately Jill's wanted to know who he was. They never mention her parents, and Claire's family, as complex as they were, always accepted her like their own, but it wasn't enough. She nearly feels like crying with her.

"There's an address on here. I think he's been waiting for the write time to tell me this." The air between them is still a bit intense, a bit awkward, but Claire agrees that writing back would be a good idea.

"It says I should send it to Mineral Town," she tells Claire.

"_That_ place?"

"Yeah," Jill says, also a little dumbfounded. They grin at each other, and without words, the tension between them is gone.

"I'll send this back in the same red envelope, so he knows it's me. Who mails in red, anyways?" This gets a laugh out of Claire. It reminds her of "The Scarlet Letter", as if red letters are supposed to be some kind of cliché.

Perhaps this letter proves that he's really a friend of her father's... Claire feels a tightness in her heart disappear, and she sighs from relief.

"Then," she looks at Jill, "you'll go to Mineral Town and send it, right?" Jill says that's a given, and that Claire has to go with her. Claire wraps her arms around the girl. "Of course. How could I let my dear sister go alone?"

In a month, the luggage is packed, the apartment is cleaned out, and everything's in order to leave. Claire is by the door, waiting for Jill. She scans the situation, looks at the bags, the empty room, the spot where the pine table they pawned used to be (it had grown on her), and the bare windows. She realizes that they were leaving everything.

What were they thinking, making such a huge decision on a whim?

"Um, Jill, I promised, so... don't think I'm going back on my word, but... Are you sure about this?" Jill appears from the bathroom, prepared to make her best impression. She's wearing a top the same violet as her eye, laced at collarbone, with a leather jacket and a large black belt overtop. It's her favorite jacket, the inside seamed with a vertical-lined sweater and same material for the hood, which was concealed under the long brown hair.

Jill raises a brow at Claire, whose clothes are brighter and more ornate than hers. Her blonde hair is tied up and topped with a large cream-colored bow. "Claire," Jill grabs a suitcase and escorts her to the door. "If I had the slightest doubts, I wouldn't have even packed the bags. And I definitely wouldn't have made you come with me."

With an _I give up_ kind up grin, Claire shakes her head and excitedly grabs her flower-designed handbag and backpack. Claire closes the door behind them. They say goodbye to the apartment complex. As they leave, Claire realizes that the rucksack on Jill's bag is one of the things Takakura had sent her. _She really is serious about this_, Claire thinks, as Jill gleams and stops at the sidewalk. She calls a cab.

"The clothes should get their attention," Claire says alongside the brunette. "Maybe even a discount?" The blonde's mischievous grin is so Claire, Jill can't help laughing at it. The taxi pulls up, and even though Jill was the one waving, the male driver looks at Claire, head...to...toe. "What can I do for you today, lovely?"

"_WE_," says Jill, wearing her most pleasant and innocent smile (holding in the rage), "would like a ride to a place on the southern outskirts of the city, please! It's a place called Mineral Town *wink*!" She and Claire are quite the pair: one looks innocent, the other mature and provocative, in a short cream-colored skirt.

"Well... (damn, that's some trip)... You got a good tip on yous?" Jill pulls a puppy-dog face, looking guilty to the side. Claire checks every pocket she has, with no luck. She pulls out thirty-one dollars. "Alright (only because they're pretty). Anything for you two girls!" As they get on, they wink at the passengers and poke fun at the driver's silly act. They take a seat, and are too busy chatting to hear him as the cab takes off.

"I've heard of other guys in the business taking people there, but I've never been." He looks at the rear-view and grumbles at the sight of Jill. He turns the mirror a bit and asks the blonde. "Hey, what's your name dear?"

"Karen," she says seriously. Jill looks astounded and quietly claps at her poker face skills. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh, well...because..." The driver focuses on the road, and in all honesty, he's curious about one thing. There was someone else from the city who wanted to go to Mineral Town, but he couldn't place the name. One of his taxi friends knew him pretty well. "I think there's a guy from around here who also had a random request to go to Mineral Town recently. Now that I think of it... It happens every now and then."

The girls look at him quizzically. It's surprising that people go to the town sometimes, but is it really so strange? Claire doesn't hold back that question, and he scratches the back of his head, feeling a little clumsy.

"I guess I should have elaborated for you, deary. You see, they ask to go, and they never return."

Jill looks a little scared. "Oh, now now, it's nothing to serious. Maybe they like the town more than the city? You can't jump to conclusions like that." Jill looks to Claire for consolation, and nearly collapses from loss of hope. Her eyes are glittering and her entire being is glowing with interest.

"How fascinating! I can't wait to get there!" Jill smiles pathetically at her friend and shakes her head. "Oh come on, I've been bored stiff here! A place where people go missing mysteriously? Sounds like an adventure to me!" Jill chuckles, a little at a loss for words.

"You find ghost stories and that exciting?" She smiles grimly. "I don't believe in that stuff."

The air goes cold for a moment. Even the cab driver looks at Jill to be sure she's feeling alright. She's smiling, but blanking out. That distant look has become more and more familiar as the years go by.

It's the look she has when she's thinking of somewhere, or someone, very distant. Only Claire knows whose on her mind. She sighs to break the silence and puts a hand on Jill's closed fist on the seat.

"I think I'm gonna miss this place, just a little." Jill softly agrees, still spacing out. Claire gets an idea. "Hey, can you get your letter and that wooden thing out?" Jill does so, reaching into her rucksack and placing what she received earlier on the seats. "You know why I was so aggravated today when I got home?"

Jill looks a bit befuddled. "I can't hazard a guess, to be honest. You were even crabbier than usual."

_Whoa... quick recovery! _Claire laughs at herself. Why does she worry, when Jill seems to recover from those spells so quickly? She goes on with the conversation, amused by Jill's antics. "Well, I received that package from an excitable guy." Jill raises her eyes in surprise, but it's obvious she can tell where this is going. She's also pretty amused by this point. "Young guy, new on the job, or at least new to the complex. He'd never seen me, I'd never seen him... That was his pick-up line. He said we were 'fated strangers' or something ludicrous like that." Jill cracks up, looking a little guiltily at her friend. The guys are always after her.

"The sooner you're out of this city, the better huh." Jill manages to console her a bit, wiping away a tear. Claire huffs at her for her false sympathy, but Jill really is serious. "You've always been a little too popular. What is it that makes you so attractive?" Claire gives her wry smile. She assumes Jill is jealous, and the two get into a pointless squabble.

In a few hours, Jill falls asleep, dreaming of the her unknown past, the present, and what is possibly to come, while Claire stays up on-watch. She watches the time pass outside: the sight of buildings becomes rare, fields open up on either side of the cab, and occasionally she glances at her dreaming friend, holding a red envelope. When she sees they're approaching a town, she shakes her friend awake, and with dreary eyes and excited hearts, the two exit the cab and take their first steps out of the city.

* * *

_It all started with a letter..._

_I hadn't gotten a letter in a long time..._

_It was in a bright red envelope, and it was from the daughter of an old friend._

_She wrote about her life in the city and asked all kinds of questions about the farm._

_On the last line, she said..._

* * *

_Tali's Notes:_

_(I rewrote this. Sorry for people who saw the previous version, but I took another look at it and it just felt incomplete .)_

_THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING, YOU'RE AWESOME *cries*  
unless of course you just skipped to this part. Shame on you! Go back and read-JUST KIDDING!  
JUST. KIDDING.  
notreallybutokay._

_Blame having to read _Jane Eyre _for all the wordiness. At least it doesn't take me an entire half-a-page to say "The sky is blue". (Come on, Jane Austen...really?)_

_Now I'm gonna be honest with you guys, my heart just wasn't in this halfway through. It wasn't fun to write, but worth it._

_On a random note, I'm really fond of doing poems for Gustafa. Try singing to them if you like!_

_The title of this series hasn't been decided, but I've written a lot of chapters much better than this (let me add I like to put certain characters through heart-broken hell too *muahaha* Jill and Claire may be included)._

_By the by... It may be hard to tell, but this is Jill's story (and Claire appears rarely)._

_Next will be more exposition about Mineral Town._

_Now, this might be difficult because __**I have never played Mineral Town,  
so if a kind soul could please fill me in on how the game starts, who the heroine meets first, first dialogue exchanged, how she arrives transportation-wise, important characters that absolutely cannot be missed,  
IT WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED and I OFFER COOKIES AS REWARDS.  
**__All I know is how weird the Mayor is, aaaaaannnnnd I can only give you guys so much with that._

Thanks again for reading, and have a sunshiney day!

_Wait...I think there's something else that goes here... OH!_

Please Rate & Review!


	2. CH1 - New Girls in Town

**New Girls In Town**

**_Breeze _**

* * *

_THE DRILL: I do not own Harvest Moon, in company or any of the its characters. That honor belongs to its co-owners and the creator Yasuhiro Wada. This is a work of fiction based on fiction. Any likeness to real people, fake people, stalks of grass, favorite brand of gum, pets, bands, planets, and/or you, the reader, is unintentional. I SWEAR. (You know the drill.)_

In front of them, hills and peaking plateaus hover in the view towards the left, and the rest of what Claire and Jill suppose is Mineral Town expands in front of them and to the right. The distant east is the end of the land, as it meets with a vast ocean. These two girls from the city, one in round-toed heels and the other in heeled boots, both look rather out-of-sorts treading across a grassy plain wearing in designer clothing.

Claire's pale pink heels fight against the natural tread. She holds her handbag in one hand while clenching the sling of her backpack in the other. "I wanted to be prepared, but why did I pack so many clothes!?"

"At least you thought ahead. I wasn't expecting him to just drop us off," Jill mutters, lugging the rucksack that her Uncle Taka gave her long ago in the mail. Takakura is the man who's been writing her letters for years. He sends her gifts and claims to be a close friend of her father. Until recently, Claire doubted he was a trustworthy figure, but in his last letter, he states there is a farm waiting for Jill that used to be her father's.

They both left everything behind so Jill could come to this town and return the kind words of her Uncle Taka. After many long years, he finally enclosed his address and said to send her reply to Mineral Town, and it'll get to his home in Forget-Me-Not Valley. The red envelope she clutches so tightly now holds all the words she's been holding back, all the promise of finding her father, as well as a huge decision she came to last night...

"Jill," Claire says, head turning up to the huge hills passing on the left, "you realize the situation we're in, right?" She turns her blue eyes to the brunette, who looks a bit apprehensive. The surroundings are a complete 180° turn from where they've spent all their lives. Surrounding them are trees, dirt fields, weeds everywhere, and rocks that seem unnaturally large. Jill realizes her view of the farming life is quite distorted; it's exactly like the stereotypical country.

Taken aback, she replies, "Well, we're two total strangers in a small town. People will probably think we're lost or someth-"

Jill's mouth drops at the sight of Claire. All this time, the blonde's been gaping at the sights and looking at everything with jittery excitement. Now she's staring at a strange indigo-colored cluster on the ground. "Claire?" Her blonde hair spins with her and her face is alight with weird imaginings.

"Remember? The cab driver said that lots of people come from the city and disappear here!" She plucks the indigo weed and holds it, wondering what it could possibly be. "I've never seen grass this color. Do you suppose they use these in potions, to kidnap victims?"

It goes without saying that somewhat cynical Claire has a rather contradictive, vast imagination. Jill, on the other hand, doesn't play games like this in dire situations, such as now. She glares at Claire and smacks the grass out of her hand. "Claire, this isn't the time to play around!"

"Hey, you two!"

Both of the girls turn to the front and face an odd-looking man. "Were you the one that just called us?" Jill says to him. He's short in stature, somewhat round, especially in the face, with a button nose to match. His clothes do no justice in slimming him down: a bright red jacket, a bright blue vest with golden buttons, a matching golden bow that covers his entire neck, white trunks, shined black shoes, and to top it off, a bright red hat too small for his head. He trots towards them from a farm not too far ahead. Claire gets a weird feeling...

"Hello," he grins. "I just thought, 'What a lovely day for a stroll', and I have the lovely surprise of meeting to gorgeously rich-looking ladies! How do you do?"

Claire looks disgusted, but Jill's rather amused. "Um," she pauses, knowing she didn't hear wrong, "you just called us rich-looking."

His eyes have a fascinating ability to look closed when he's wearing a smile. "Pardon?"

"I don't think you came here to greet us of good will," the blonde says flatly. He shakes his head dismissively, saying she must be tired from her travels. "Excuse me sir, but we don't have pennies to our name."

Jill jumps in, wiping a nonexistent tear. "Not a cent sir. Our grandmother gave us these clothes out of pity." She holds a hand out while wiping her eyes. "D-do you suppose you could spare some money for us?"

"How pathetic!" He looks disgruntled and walks away, grumbling in disappointment.

"He's gone..." Jill smiles, a little disappointed. He seemed entertaining. Claire gets a good look at the brunette's face and can see right through her.

"He's no good. That guy is a money grubber, from head to toe." She looks at the dirt path, and sees they are standing in a cross-section. The left path leads to wilderness, the straight one to the farm that strange man came from. "I guess we should head this way," she says, leading Jill by the hand to the path to the right.

Claire ends up being dragged by Jill along the way. First, they come across a carpenter's hut. "Wow, was that done by hand?" Claire's feet are cemented. "What if there are captives inside?" Jill has to use all her strength to get them moving again, pushing the gazing girl's back with all her force. As they leave, a stout man with brisk muscles and a scruffy beard leaves the cabin and scratches his head.

"Ooh, look at that!" After a turn and a bridge crossing, they find themselves surrounded by farms. Chickens cluck to their left, and two sheep crowd the fence to their right. The path intercepting the one they were traveling is made of bricks. "From here, it's really starting to feel like a town!" Jill nods, but she still feels very foreign here. Where is she supposed to drop off her letter? And also, couldn't Uncle Taka have at least given her a map?

"Let's go right! It's taken us this far!" Claire speeds ahead, and Jill falls back, a little confused by the circumstances. They came to Mineral Town to deliver a letter, not to explore. But the way things are going, all they will accomplish is the latter!

"Wow..." Even Jill is amazed by what they see next. A huge square plaza with circular patterns of tiles underfoot opens up in front of them. Trimmed hedges surround the scene. She and Claire wander the vast expanse. It's beautiful, and clear of trees, goats, chickens... Jill and Claire exchange glances and soft smiles from opposites sides of the huge plaza.

It's reminiscent of the city.

"Hey, Jill! Come here," she says, standing by a bulletin. Jill runs across the tiles and jumps to Claire's side. "I guess small towns like this put up a news bulletin! Maybe we'll find something useful here." They scan the board. One section reads "FESTIVALS", and that grabs Claire's attention. She starts reciting the dates excitedly. The most recent festival will be on the 24th, but Jill doesn't seem to care much. "It sounds like something exclusive to couples, doesn't it?" Claire says, sounding a little put-off. "Sparks and stars on the beach, on a peaceful winter night... There's a lot of obvious symbolism there." She grunts from disappointment while Jill continues reading. It says something about shipments...

"I FOUND IT!" Claire jolts away from Jill, who just jumped and screamed louder than she's conscious of. "Finally... I thought everything was pointless for a moment..." Jill looks at the ground and sighs. Claire approaches her friend and pats her back. To Jill's surprise, she suddenly apologizes to her.

"I got so swept away with this place, like love at first sight, and I completely neglected the main mission." The brunette laughs and hugs her. She says there's no reason to feel guilty, and reminds the blonde who invited her here to begin with.

"Yeah... I should thank you for that."

Jill wonders to think of that. Does that mean Claire's already grown attached to the town? She grins at the thought of bringing Claire such happiness. She loves this place, and she came here because of Jill. Jill feels very warm as they pace towards the path to the right once again.

The ocean welcomes the two girls with quiet waves.

"Beautiful..." Sheer awe escapes them, and for a moment, neither of them move. "I want to play in the sand," Jill admits, feeling very childish. Claire laughs and agrees. They can play as much as they want once they've made the delivery. They scan the sands and find the hut. "It's just as the bulletin said!" Jill nearly bolts for the cabin. Claire leaves the sight-seeing for later. Once they deliver the letter, the both of them can relax.

"Hello?" Jill opens the door, holding back her haste.

Inside, she finds an Asian man with long, thin hairs hanging from his either side of his upper lip, waving at her from behind a box of tangerines. "Ciao!" He bows his head, which is braided in the back, longer than hers. Covering his crown is a round, umbrella-patterned cap. "Would you like to trade something?" He scans the heavy packs on both the girls' backs.

Jill shakes her head furiously, as Claire follows in, playing the casual part. "No no, I'm here because of a notice on the bulletin." She raises the red envelope. "I have something to ship." The other man in the room has a large, defined back. Jill wonders if she'll have to negotiate to get this done. Her resolve stands firmer than ever as the man turns around, his sleeveless white shirt curving under his muscle-bound girth, his hair bark brown, cut clean on the sides and grown out at the top. His brows stand heavy and nearly meet at the center, as he frowns and surveys the two girls who just entered his home.

Jill grins and holds out the envelope, and the tall man's harsh face brightens as he grins. He has the largest, most perfect pearly white grin Jill has ever seen.

"To Takakura, eh? I'll take that of your hands, no problem."

The girls look at each other in shock, and Jill snaps her eyes back at him when she feels the envelope is gone. He waves it in the air. "Don't you worry, young lady. Takakura is an old buddy of mine. I don't mind doing him this one little favor." Jill inquires if he truly knows him, and how Takakura is doing. "He's perfectly fine, just as stiff as always."

Jill gleams at Claire, and Claire's doubts have completely cleared. He's real. This man knows him. Moreover, the letter can be delivered! "I'm sorry for not introducing myself," Jill extends a hand. "My name's Jill, and my friend here is Claire." The blonde tilts her head and beams a charismatic grin. "You're doing us a huge favor, Mr. Zack."

He turns sour. "Zack. Please, don't attach the mister." His change of tone scares the brunette and blonde.

"Don't mind him, he and the misses haven't been on good terms lately." The Asian man's smile seems honest enough, so the girls ease their shoulders. "I'm Won by the way. I sell things here." He pauses, looking at their bags again. "You seem to be traveling. Come, come! Buy something!"

Zack also looks at the girls. "Ah, right. I've never seen you two before. Are you lost?" They'd prepared themselves for this response, but now, they aren't sure how to explain the situation. "Don't tell me you came all the way here to deliver a letter."

Claire looks him in the eye, and Jill nods guiltily.

"Hm" is Zack's response. "How interesting. Have you had a good tour of the town?"

Claire's eyes fill with joy, and Jill looks at her to supply the explanation. She rambles about how beautiful the town is, the brick paths, the chickens, the mysterious cabin, and the grand plaza. "You mean Rose Plaza?" She nods her head vigorously. She goes on about the ocean, the dock and boat outside, and Jill starts to feel rather selfish for holding Claire back from exploration.

"If you want, we can go outside and take a better look at it!" Claire takes up Zack's offer, and while they view the boat and the sea, Jill looks at Won's wares. He thanks her immensely and welcomes her with a trusty smile, pulling out a wooden orange tray, full of assortments.

"What would you like, miss Jill?" She glances at the small packages, and Won excitedly explains that they are each different types of seeds. "For first-time grower, you should take chances! Experiment with every seed and see what fits you!" Jill chuckles at his attempts to sell, but she refuses as politely as she can. Won pursues, until Jill reaches into her pocket and shows her the gold coins.

"Three-hundred golden pieces? You joke, right?" She gives him a hopeless smile and shoves them back in her pocket.

Claire and Zack then come in, and Claire is holding something in her hands. "Look, Jill! Look what Zack just gave me!" She runs to Jill's side and happily extends the long fishing rod in her hands. Jill notices it's a little different than one of the city. It has a simple bob too. She likes the style.

"It's yours for keeps," says the kind muscle-man. "And I'll be sure to deliver this letter as soon as I can." He looks sympathetically at the brunette. "Jill's explained the whole ordeal. I'm seriously worried. What were you two thinking?" Claire gives Jill a glance, as if she saw this coming. "You've got no jobs, no homes, barely any gold. It's not like these things just fall from the sky!"

Claire takes a step towards Zack. "We know. We took that into consideration a while back."

"And," Jill steps forward also, "everything we've done up to this point... It's for a good reason. We can't just stop in the middle of it." Jill turns her head to Claire, purple eyes shining with resolution. Claire's eyes widen. She can't imagine what's running through her head.

"We'll stay here, until Takakura replies. Until then, please don't mind us too much." She bows politely. Claire is shocked. Sure, she absolutely loves Mineral Town, but can she really impose on its citizens like this? They were really strangers, in the grand scheme of things. How can Jill decide this on her own?

"Alright then," Zack says, unbelievably unsurprised. "It seems Claire's practically called this place home anyway, so I won't stop you if you've got a plan." The blonde blushes, and smiles with gratitude. Jill raises her head and winks at her. Thanks to the brunette, their story is headed for an interesting chapter,

one that will inevitably bring the two girls

separation.

* * *

_It all started with a letter..._

_On the last line, she said this..._

_"I want to try working on the farm."_

* * *

_Tali's Notes:_

_Thanks for reading 'til the end! I know I'd said a lot of things about this chapter in the prologue._

_Trust me, I'm disappointed too._

_Overall, I like where the story is going, though. Next week, I'll be in Disney, so no chapter updates until I get back. Please bear with the long chapters. I'm trying to learn how to cut down, but it's really hard..._

_Not only am I evil to characters, but also to the readers. Really, who let me write?_

_I'm terrible._

_I'll leave you guys with my most recent cake recipe (it's gluten-free, dairy is optional):_

Camela's _Classic Vanilla Cake Mix, eggs, butter, water, heavy cream (for the whip later)_

_Follow the pound cake recipe on the bag_

_Cook, then chill_

_Serve with bananas and whipped cream (it's easy to make the whipped cream yourself, and you can make it thicker this way) _

_It's delicious, and I'm absolutely addicted. The cake mix I got at ShopRite, but Wholefoods may have it. I use this cake mix for everything! Maybe next time I'll put in a layer of peaches! Mmm~_

Please Rate & Review!

(The cake too, if you can make it, or post some recipes yourself! But please include review of this chapter, it'll help me out.)


End file.
